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Technology

Report: Meta pulls the plug on its AR/VR operating system ambitions

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Enlarge / The Oculus Quest 2, Meta’s most popular VR headset today.

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has pulled the plug on its current efforts to develop an operating system for AR and VR devices, The Information reported today.

Citing “two people familiar with the decision,” the article claims that Meta will return to the status quo of running Oculus devices—and perhaps future mixed reality devices—on a modified version of Google’s Android operating system for mobile phones.

The project, which was internally called XROS, had reportedly been underway for years and “involved hundreds of employees.” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was talking up its potential only a few short months ago. The reasons for Meta’s decision to pull the plug are not publicly known at this time.

From the outside, the decision appears to be a major setback in a brewing war over mixed reality between Meta, Apple, and potentially other tech giants. Apple’s upcoming VR or AR headsets will without a doubt run a custom-made operating system that is designed to leverage tight integration with the hardware for strong performance and a stable experience.

It could be difficult for Facebook to compete with that without its own, ground-up software. That said, Facebook and Apple may end up targeting very different use cases for AR and VR; their ultimate strategies remain a mystery to most.

Facebook was renamed “Meta” as part of an overall pivot for the company toward developing more immersive experiences—the name is a (somewhat off-target) nod to the metaverse of science fiction. The change suggested that Meta sees mixed reality or XR (a catch-all term for both AR and VR technologies) as the future of the company.

It’s therefore surprising that Meta has reportedly decided to call off its work on XROS, but it’s also possible that the project will be reborn in another form in the future.

Analysts and reporters have been publishing reports saying that Apple’s first mixed reality headset could hit the market as soon as this year, though it’s unlikely to be a mass market consumer device. Meta is already in the market thanks to its acquisition of Oculus and the marked success of the Oculus Quest. But this apparent setback suggests that Apple may be ahead on some aspects of the tech.

That said, there have also been reports that Apple has been bleeding talent out of its AR division to other companies—including Meta—for reasons that are not yet apparent.

If there’s one clear takeaway from these developments, it may be that the much-predicted mixed reality revolution is still in a troubled infancy.

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Business

Amazon’s Alexa tells 10-year-old child to touch penny to exposed plug socket

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However, the voice-enabled assistant recently gave some dangerous advice to one user that went viral on social media.

According to a tweet posted by Kristin Livdahl, Alexa told her 10-year-old child to touch a penny to an exposed plug socket.

“My 10 year old just asked Alexa on our Echo for a challenge and this is what she said,” Livdahl tweeted on Sunday.

Livdahl shared an image of Alexa’s response after her child asked the device for a challenge.

“Here’s something I found on the web. According to ourcommunitynow.com: The challenge is simple: plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs,” Alexa’s response read.

Users expressed their astonishment in the comments

“That’s shocking,” one user tweeted.
“Omg that’s horrible,” another user tweeted.

Amazon said they have since resolved the fault.

“Customer trust is at the center of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers,” a spokesperson for Amazon told CNN in a statement.

“As soon as we became aware of this error, we quickly fixed it, and will continue to advance our systems to help prevent similar responses in the future,” the statement said.

The trend, known as the penny challenge, emerged on social media platforms such as TikTok in 2020.

However, some users have warned against the potential dangers of the challenge.

“You may have heard of the TikTok experiment involving a cell phone charger, a coin and an outlet,” Captain Brian Tanner, of the Provo Fire Department in Utah, said in a video posted in Jan. 2020 from the organization’s account on TikTok.

“I’m telling you this is dangerous stuff, don’t do it,” Tanner added.



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Business

Amazon’s Alexa Tells 10-Year-Old to Touch Plug With Penny

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Amazon’s Alexa seems eager to remind us all: She makes the rules. That’s what a 10-year-old girl nearly learned Monday when, after asking Alexa for a challenge to do, she was given a potentially deadly response: “Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs.” The girl’s mom, Kristin Livdahl, took to Twitter to showcase what could have been a crisis. “We were doing some physical challenges, like laying down and rolling over holding a shoe on your foot, from a [physical education] teacher on YouTube earlier,” she told one user. “Bad weather outside. She just wanted another one.” The company reached out to Livdahl on Twitter and told the BBC it would prevent the device from recommending the “challenge” again. “Customer trust is at the centre of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers,” it said. “As soon as we became aware of this error, we took swift action to fix it.”

Read it at BBC

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Technology

Spotify Pulls Plug on Car View, Offers Users No Alternative

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Photo: Lionel Bonaventure / AFP (Getty Images)

If you got in your car and suddenly found that Spotify’s Car View feature had mysteriously disappeared, I’m sorry to say that no, it’s not a bug. Spotify actually announced—although “whispered” would be more accurate—that it was killing Car View more than a month ago, but it looks like it hadn’t gotten to actually doing so on a major scale until recently.

Car View’s disappearance was spotted by Android Police, which pointed to a post from a company moderator on Spotify’s community forums confirming that it was ending support for the feature in mid-October. The feature was available on Spotify’s app for iOS and Android and offered a simplified version of its interface, including playback controls and song titles, and bigger buttons for ease of use while driving.

In Spotify’s October reply on its forums, which addressed a question from a user who couldn’t access Car View, the company’s moderator said that it was “exploring a variety of new ways to deliver the best in-car listening experience.” Until then, though, folks that used Car View hoping for a similar feature or replacement from the company are out of luck.

“We can confirm that we’re retiring the car view feature,” the moderator wrote. “This however doesn’t mean we don’t want to improve on how our users listen to Spotify while driving. On the contrary, we’re actively exploring a variety of new ways to deliver the best in-car listening experience. Think of retiring car-view as something that needs to happen in an effort to make way for new innovations coming down the track.”

In addition, as if to add salt to the wound, a different moderator replied to the same post on the community forums three weeks ago and said, oh hey, we’re “also retiring certain features like our in-car Now Playing View for Android.”

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I think an announcement with all the car features they were killing would have been easier.

Although Spotify didn’t offer alternatives for Car View, one of the company’s moderators suggested that users use Google Assistant for hands-free music control. They also pointed to a feature on Google Maps that allows listeners on iOS and Android to control music playback when using the app. However, as the Verge notes, the Google Maps solution doesn’t really help users who were hoping for something with big control buttons like Car View (Google Map’s playback controls are small than in Spotify’s now-dead feature).

Many Spotify users that commented on the community forum post were angry that the company had pulled a feature without offering a replacement first and saw the move as a blatant attempt to push Car Thing on consumers, its $80 smart device player designed specifically for cars that’s only available for preorder in the U.S. at the moment. Other said removing the feature was promoting unsafe driving.

Honestly, I echo what some of the commentators and media outlets have said about this. I don’t understand why Spotify couldn’t maintain Car View while it went off “exploring” new and better features. It also just seems downright rude to take away a feature your users are accustomed to and not offering them an alternative. Thumbs down, Spotify.

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Technology

Niantic pulls the plug on CATAN World Explorers

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Niantic has decided to pull the plug on the development of CATAN World Explorers, a game based on the immensely popular board game CATAN. The company shared a statement on the CWE forums, informing players about the upcoming plan to sunset the game.

CATAN – World Explorers will sunset on November 18th, 2021, 7am UTC. Pokémon GO players who played CWE will be able to transfer their CWE currency into Pokémon GO, provided that they spend real money on the game.

So what happened? According to the official statement, the game drifted away from the original CATAN game, making it difficult to align the MMO nature of Niantic’s mobile games with the board game’s appeal.

The full statement is attached below and you can see the gameplay on this Youtube video.

CATAN – World Explorers is shutting down

Explorers,

After a year of exploring the world together, we are announcing today that CATAN – World Explorers will not be rolling out to more countries and instead we will be winding down the game over the coming months. The team thanks all of you, our dedicated players, for your feedback and your fun.

CATAN – World Explorers will sunset on November 18th, 2021, 7am UTC. This means that the game will not be available to play any more after this date and all development on it will be halted. Later today, we will be taking the game down from the App Store and removing real-money purchases from the Shop. We want to have some final fun in our last few seasons; we plan on increasing bonuses to make the most of the remaining weeks!

The team originally set out to build a game that turned the world into a CATAN gameboard. We had a vision for trading, harvesting, and building up the world in seasonal play and resetting the board each month, just like you do for each new game you play at home. But trying to adapt such a well-designed board game to a global, location-based Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game was a tough challenge. We’re so proud of the game we made, however we got a little too complicated and a little too far from the original CATAN game. The work and knowledge that we learned working on this game is not lost and we’re already working hard on more games for the future!

To everyone in the CATAN – World Explorers community that joined us for this adventure, we’re so thankful for your dedication, support, and detailed feedback! We hope to see you again soon.

The CATAN – World Explorers team has learned a lot since we kicked off our soft launch beta in early July 2020. A lot can be attributed to this community of dedicated beta players, who rigorously reported every bug, provided key feedback, and always reminded us why we made this game in the first place: for a community of dedicated fans. We want to thank everyone who supported this game!

Here you can find some GIFs and Stickers that we had planned to release for the launch of this game. They are also available on social media apps like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – just type CatanWE in the search bar. We hope they will be something that you enjoy and share during the last two seasons. We are already thinking about how to spice up the final season for all of you.

Thank you for being the best community we could imagine!

Yours,

The CATAN – World Explorers Team

What happens to my in-app purchases?

You’ll still be able to spend your remaining Gold balance before the end of the game. We have some gameplay ideas that we are planning will make the next few months of gameplay really exciting! We’re also going to cut prices of items in the shop so that players have the full opportunity to enjoy your Gold balance in the next few months.

If you would like to use your currency in Pokémon GO, you can transfer your unused Gold balance to Pokémon GO. Please contact support before November 1st to request this balance transfer.

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Entertainment

Watch As Guns N’ Roses Keeps Rocking After Festival Pulls The Plug On Them

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The infamously strict curfew at the BottleRock Napa Valley music festival has claimed another victim, this time with Guns N’ Roses getting the plug pulled mid-song. 

As has happened in the past, the band continued to play anyway, through their stage amps, with the crowd handling the vocals.  

The band ― joined by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters ― had been powering through “Paradise City” during their encore when the clock struck 10, which happens about 3 minutes into this video: 

The festival has always had a strict curfew as it’s held in a neighborhood close to homes. 

Last year’s festival was cancelled due to the pandemic. In the previous year, 2019, the festival pulled the plug on Neil Young in the middle of “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

He also finished the song, with help from the audience. 

The Foo Fighters in 2017 and the Cure in 2014 each got the silent treatment at curfew time, putting Guns N’ Roses in some pretty good company overall… and Grohl in the middle of two different curfew-busting sets with two different acts. 

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Science

Nightmare scenario: alarm as advertisers seek to plug into our dreams | Advertising

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When brewing giant Coors launched a new advertising campaign earlier this year, the format came as a surprise to many. The company was planning to infiltrate people’s dreams to get them to buy, and presumably drink, Coors beer.

Coors encouraged people to watch a short online video before bed, then play an eight-hour “soundscape” through the night. If successful, this “targeted dream incubation” would trigger “refreshing dreams” of Coors, according to the company.

It’s unclear how many people took part in the dream manipulation – the top Google search result for “Coors dreams” is currently the song Dreams, performed by the Irish pop-rock band the Corrs – but experts warn that the Coors campaign is not just a gimmick, and may have opened a door to a troubling future.

“They’re trying to push an addictive drug on people who are naive to what’s being done to them. I don’t know if it can get much worse than that,” Bob Stickgold, a cognitive neuroscientist and professor of psychiatry at Harvard medical school, said of Coors’ efforts, which he believed could potentially be replicated by other companies.

“Anything you could imagine an advertising campaign for, at all, could arguably be enhanced by weaponizing sleep,” Stickgold said.

Stickgold was one of the co-authors of a recent open letter which sounded the alarm over companies using targeted dream incubation in June. The letter was signed by 35 sleep and dream researchers from around the world.

“TDI-advertising is not some fun gimmick, but a slippery slope with real consequences,” the letter warned. “The potential for misuse of these technologies is as ominous as it is obvious.”

The concept of dream incubation – “techniques employed during wakefulness to help a person dream about a specific topic” – has been around for thousands of years, according to researchers.

In the more recent past, Salvador Dalí was given to the practice of holding a spoon while napping, in an attempt to enhance his creativity. When Dalí began to fall into a deeper slumber, and hopefully dream, the spoon would drop from his hand on to a pre-positioned dinner plate, waking him up in a state where he could remember the images or scenes he had – briefly – dreamt.

Over the past decade research has shown that people’s dreams can be more targeted, and that humans can be highly susceptible to thoughts or ideas introduced while they sleep.

A 2014 study found that smokers exposed to the smell of cigarettes and rotten eggs while they slept smoked 30% fewer cigarettes during the following week, while Stickgold said other work had shown that racial bias can be reduced by targeted dream incubation.

While much of the research so far has been aimed at positive results, scientists fear the threat of dream advertising is real, and in an increasingly wired world it is not likely to be limited to willing participation.

“Something like 30 million people have these listening, Alexa-type devices in their bedroom. And those devices can play anything they want whenever they want and advertisers could buy advertising time, [for adverts] they want played at 2.30 in the morning,” Stickgold said.

“You could have this sort of 1984 situation where advertisers buy advertising time on these devices, and nobody ever knows they’re hearing them.”

It wouldn’t be an entirely straightforward process. To sell a project involuntarily through dreams, the potential advertising campaign would have to be linked to adverts people see while they are awake.

Stickgold said it could potentially be done by playing a certain sound every time a product – a Coors beer, or a Corrs album, for example – is seen during a television or YouTube advert.

Replaying that sound while someone is sleeping, potentially through a home device, would, in theory, then trigger dreams about how nice it would be to drink a beer, or listen to an Irish guitar and violin-driven musical ensemble.

It’s a sobering thought, and in an effort to avoid such scenarios, the June letter called for stricter regulation on advertising, to prevent products being thrust into dreams. Stickgold said the Federal Trade Commission already restricts some subliminal advertising, such as the flashing of words or images during films or TV shows, and would be able to intervene.

“One way we could go in the US is to get a ruling from the FTC, that any attempts to manipulate people while they’re sleeping, whether it’s specifically through dream induction, or through other processes of sleep-dependent learning, would similarly count as unfair trade processes,” Stickgold said.

The commission is yet to comment on whether it will wade into the issue, even as researchers say some companies are actively examining the potential to worm their way into dreams.

Our slumber may be safe for the moment, but scientists believe this is a real threat.

“We believe that proactive action and new protective policies are urgently needed,” Stickgold and his fellow sleep experts wrote.

“To keep advertisers from manipulating one of the last refuges of our already beleaguered conscious and unconscious minds: our dreams.”

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Business

Plug Power, Coupa Software, Lennar and more

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Plug Power hydrogen delivery truck.

Source: Plug Power

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

Plug Power – The fuel cell maker’s shares slid more than 16% after Plug Power said it will restate financial results following accounting errors. In a filing the company said the errors are primarily related to areas including the impairment of certain long-lived assets, as well as loss accruals for certain service contracts. “There is no expected impact to our cash position, business operations or economics of commercial arrangements,” the company said, adding that the review did not find any misconduct.

Coupa Software – Shares of the financial management software company dropped more than 7% even after a better-than-expected quarterly report. Coupa earned an adjusted 17 cents per share for its latest quarter, compared to expectations of an 11 cents per share loss, according to Refinitiv. The company’s revenue also topped expectations. 

Lennar — The homebuilder’s share price popped nearly 7% after reporting strong quarterly results. Lennar reported earnings per share of $2.04. Revenue came in at $5.33 billion, topping estimates of $5.13 billion, according to Refinitiv.

CrowdStrike Holdings  – The security software stock rose about 0.3% after the company reported earnings that topped analysts’ estimates. CrowdStrike reported quarterly earnings of 13 cents per share, beating estimates by 5 cents, according to Refinitiv. CrowdStrike also issued an upbeat outlook, projecting more than $1 billion in revenue this year.

Uber — Shares of the ride-hailing service dropped 4.7% Wednesday morning after the company said it would grant U.K. drivers worker status, minimum wage and certain benefits. Uber’s decision came after the country’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling that a group of drivers were workers, not independent contractors.

McDonald’s — Shares of McDonald’s rose 1.6% in midday trading after Deutsche Bank upgraded the global burger chain to buy and said investors should see 11% upside over the next year. UBS also published a bullish note on Wednesday and said McDonald’s should continue to see strong sales growth throughout 2021 thanks to its foray into chicken sandwiches.

Coherent — The laser company’s stock price jumped 2.8% after Coherent said it had received a revised takeover bid from optical components maker Lumentum for $6.9 billion in cash and stock.  This is the 8th bid for Coherent in a takeover contest involving Lumentum, II-VI and MKS Instruments.

— with reporting from CNBC’s Yun Li, Pippa Stevens, Tom Franck and Jesse Pound.

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Business

Dow Jones Futures Steady, Tech Futures Tumble As Treasury Yields Pop Before Fed Meeting; Plug Power Dives On Accounting

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Dow Jones futures edged higher early Wednesday, while S&P 500 futures and especially Nasdaq futures fell as Treasury yields hit 13-month highs ahead of this afternoon’s Fed meeting announcement.




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The stock market rally finished narrowly mixed Tuesday after the Nasdaq closed well off intraday highs. Plug Power (PLUG) and CrowdStrike stock headlined key overnight movers.

CrowdStrike (CRWD), Coupa Software (COUP), Smartsheet (SMAR) and Lennar (LEN) headlined earnings late Tuesday, with Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo (PDD) reporting early Wednesday. Plug Power stock plunged on accounting isues.

Microsoft stock, MKS Instruments (MKSI), Applied Materials (AMAT) and Apple (AAPL) iPhone chipmakers Qorvo (QRVO) and Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) all flashed buy points at least intraday.

Chip-equipment maker MKS Instruments broke out past a buy point Tuesday. Chip-gear giant AMAT stock flashed an early entry, along with wireless chipmakers Qorvo and Skyworks Solutions.

Microsoft (MSFT) rose, flashing additional buy signals. Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) also climbed slightly and is potentially actionable. Apple stock and Facebook (FB) rose but may need more repair time.

Amazon.com (AMZN) closed near lows, stuck around its 200-day line. Tesla (TSLA) hit resistance and retreated, still well below its 50-day line.

All of these stocks came off highs, with some closing near session lows as the Nasdaq lost steam.

Take Advantage Of Leaderboard Free Access Week

Plug Power Stock Dives

After the close, Plug Power said it would have to restate 2018 and 2019 financial statements, as well as quarterly statements for 2019 and 2020. The fuel cell company cited accounting errors related to non-cash items, including some costs. But it said there was no misconduct. PLUG stock plunged 16% in premarket trading. Shares sank 8.1% on Tuesday, hitting resistance at its 21-day line.

Key Earnings

CrowdStrike earnings and revenue were better than expected, while the cybersecurity leader also guided higher. CRWD stock gained 3% early Wednesday. Shares hit resistance at the 21-day line Tuesday and reversed lower for a 2.1% loss.

Coupa earnings and sales also topped views. COUP stock edged lower in premarket trade after rising late Tuesday. Shares fell 3.5% on Tuesday.

Smartsheet earnings and revenue beat forecasts. SMAR stock advanced 2% before the open. Shares rose 1.4% on Tuesday to 68.71, backing off key levels intraday.

Pinduoduo reported a smaller-than-expected loss while revenue surged 163%, far above estimates. PDD stock lost 4% early Wednesday after rising 1.1% to 160.89 on Tuesday.

CRWD stock, Coupa stock and Smartsheet, along with Pinduoduo, are former leaders that sold off sharply in the recent tech sell-off. They all closed below their 50-day moving averages, with COUP stock below its 200-day line.

Lennar earnings also exceeded analyst estimates. LEN stock edged lower in premarket trade. Shares fell 1.5% to 88.71. Lennar stock is several weeks into a consolidation next to a prior base. A move above last week’s high of 92.85 — the top of a quasi-handle — could offer an early entry.

Google stock and Microsoft are on IBD Leaderboard. AMAT stock and Google are on SwingTrader and the Big Cap 20. MSFT stock  is an IBD Long-Term Leader. Google, SWKS and TSLA stock are on the IBD 50. MKSI stock was Tuesday’s IBD Stock Of The Day.

Fed Meeting In Focus

The Federal Reserve will end its two-day policy meeting Wednesday, with an announcement at 2 p.m. ET. Investors will be looking for clarity from the central bank and Fed chief Jerome Powell regarding inflation and rising Treasury yields, which have hit growth stocks. Will the Fed enact, or signal a move toward, reviving “Operation Twist” to drive down long-term Treasury yields? While the Fed has said it’s far away from even curbing bond buys, will policymakers signal optimism about the economic outlook, worrying traders?

Dow Jones Futures Today

Dow Jones futures rose 0.1% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% while Nasdaq 100 futures retreated 1.1%.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose several basis points to 1.67%, at 13-month highs.

Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.

Join IBD experts and special guest David Ryan as they analyze actionable stocks in the stock market rally on IBD Live.

Coronavirus News

Coronavirus cases worldwide reached 121.39 million. Covid-19 deaths topped 2.68 million.

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. have hit 30.23 million, with deaths above 549,000.

Moderna (MRNA) has begun dosing children aged six months to less than 12 years old with its coronavirus vaccine in a phase 2/3 study. Moderna and Pfizer (PFE) are already testing their vaccines in older children.

Stock Market Rally

U.S. Stock Market Today Overview
Index Symbol Price Gain/Loss % Change
Dow Jones (0DJIA) 32824.90 -128.56 -0.39
S&P 500 (0S&P5) 3962.64 -6.30 -0.16
Nasdaq (0NDQC ) 13471.57 +11.86 +0.09
Russell 2000 (IWM) 230.44 -3.98 -1.70
IBD 50 (FFTY) 47.21 -0.25 -0.53
Last Update: 4:06 PM ET 3/16/2021

The stock market rally closed with minimal changes but it was a disappointing day for the Nasdaq and growth names.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% in Tuesday’s stock market trading. The S&P 500 index dipped 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite edged up 0.1%, after rising as much as 1.2% intraday and briefly turning negative. The small-cap Russell 2000 sank 1.7%.

10-year Treasury yield rose 1 basis point to 1.62% after dipping intraday to 1.585%.

Financials, airlines and commodity plays pulled back while growth names faded to close mixed.

Among the best ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) lost 0.5%, while the Innovator IBD Breakout Opportunities ETF (BOUT) sank 0.9%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) dipped 0.5%, with MSFT stock its top holding. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) gained 1.1%, with Qorvo and SWKS stock both notable components.

Reflecting more-speculative story stocks, Ark Innovation ETF slid 1.7% and Ark Genomics ETF 2.2%. Tesla stock is the top holding across Ark Investments’ ETFs. Ark Invest bought some PDD stock ahead of its earnings.

Tech Titans

Microsoft stock rose 1.2% to 237.71, rebounding from its 21-day exponential moving average and 10-week lines once again. Shares are still in range from the 232.96 buy point, according to MarketSmith analysis. MSFT stock is on track to have a flat base at the end of this week with a 246.23 entry.

Google stock advanced 1.4% to 2,083.89, once again rebounding from its 21-day line. Shares got to 2,113.68 intraday, just below very recent highs. Investors could take an early entry at current levels or above Tuesday’s highs. The official buy point is 2,145.24 from a three-weeks-tight pattern — or a flat base after this week.

Apple stock climbed 1.3% to 125.57, above its 21-day line and breaking a downtrend. But the iPhone giant is still below its now-falling 50-day.

Facebook stock rose 2% to 279.28, continuing a rebound from its 10-, 21-, 50- and 200-day lines. FB stock got right to a trend line starting with the Aug. 26 all-time high of 304.67. Investors could buy Facebook if it gets above Tuesday’s high, but they might want to wait for shares to at least clear the Jan. 28 peak of 286.79.

Amazon stock edged up 0.3%, but hit resistance at its 200-day.

Tesla stock fell 4.4% to 676.88, hitting resistance at its 21-day line. It’s still significantly below its 50-day line and its Jan. 25 peak of 900.40. TSLA stock fell 3% early Wednesday.

This could be just a breather for Tesla stock stock, which jumped 16% last week. But perhaps not.

While TSLA stock is struggling to rebound, Volkswagen (VWAGY) has been soaring as it announces big EV targets in 2021 with major battery investments. VWAGY stock jumped 10% on Tuesday to its best level since 2009. Shares are up 57% so far in 2021.

Chip Stocks In Buy Zones

MKSI stock popped 3.4% to 177.91, just closing above a 177.46 double-bottom buy point after reaching 182.14 intraday.

AMAT stock rose 3.15% to 118.50, rebounding from its 21-day line and breaking a short downtrend. It’s 7% above its 10-week line, still in range.

Qorvo stock rose 1.3% to 180.54, near the day’s lows after hitting 185.76 intraday. Shares did close above a downtrend and it’s only 3.1% above its 10-week average. But investors might want to wait for Qorvo stock to move back above the March 2 high of 182.75. Also, the 5G chipmaker has an official 191.92 consolidation buy point.

SWKS stock rose 1.3% to 181.04, closing near session lows. But shares broke a downtrend and continued a rebound from the 10-week line, just 3.6% above that key level. The wireless chipmaker held up well in the tech sell-off, not losing sight of its 50-day/10-week lines.

Stock Market Rally Analysis

The Nasdaq moved a bit further above its 50-day line, though closing well off intraday highs. More tech stocks, especially chips, are setting up again.

But highly valued or speculative growth names generally have more work to do. That includes Tesla stock, Plug Power, CrowdStrike and others that have rebounded off recent lows, as well as names such as Zoom Video (ZM) that haven’t bounced much at all. In general, investors want to focus on stocks above their 21-day and 50-day averages.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones and Russell 2000 fell, but after long winning streaks.

Many economy reopening plays, including travel, energy and mining, saw pullbacks Tuesday. But generally those sectors are still doing well.

Ideally, the stock market rally will show broad leadership, across a range of growth and real economy sectors. But it could be that the market will rotate back to techs, or that techs will falter once again.

Investors should be taking advantage of the resumed market uptrend, with many quality stocks breaking out or offering early entries. In this broad but uncertain stock market rally, diversifying your portfolio is especially important. Buy leading stocks from leading sectors, as always, but make sure there’s some variety. That will help you avoid big portfolio losses while also keeping you in tune with a variety of sectors.

Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.

Please follow Ed Carson on Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.

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